Today is St Andrew's Day - Scotland's official national day. Scots have traditionally celebrated this day, since the reign of Malcolm III (1034 - 1093.) But only very recently has St Andrews Day been recognised as a holiday by the Scottish Government.

Sadly, the longer that Scotland remains a part of the United Kingdom - the more that our distinct culture and way of life is further diluted and anglicised. And sadly, this means that St Andrew's Day is not celebrated anywhere near as much as it should be, although since devolution, the Scottish Government have thankfully used their limited powers in order to promote our national day (it's been an official bank holiday since 2007.)

A group of MSPs have formed a committee to further promote our national day. They now plan a new push to make the national day a school holiday.

Historically - Scotland's unique culture has been diluted and anglicised quite deliberately by the British Government - most notably, the 1747 Act of Proscription actually banned the bagpipes, tartan and the teaching of Scots Gaelic.

Then of course came the Highland Clearances, when the British establishment, over a period of many decades, forced Highlanders from their homes, in order to try to eradicate the Scots Gaelic culture, and to try to prevent any future uprisings.

In more recent history - the Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland has tried to ensure that the Scottish saltire is replaced with a union flag on as many Scottish products as possible. He has visited businesses throughout the land, begging business owners to add the British union flag to Scottish products.

This attempt to force Scots to accept the British nationality has had the opposite effect.

Scots now feel less British than ever.

A nationality is not given - a nationality is how you feel inside.

At the most recent census, in Scotland - 62% of Scots identified as 'Scottish Only' while only 8% chose to identify as 'British Only' - however, there are 500,000 English people living in Scotland, so these British only figures may very well represent the English community that live here.

The Declaration of Arbroath of 1320, a previous declaration of Scottish independence proclaimed "As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

And this statement remains true today - there will always be a very large section of Scottish society that strongly desires independence for Scotland, and no amount of begging, threatening or false promises will eradicate that strength of feeling that lies within patriotic Scots throughout this land.

Indeed, 1.6 million Scots voted yes in 2014, in the face of the lies, the false promises and the threats from the establishment. The very fact that it was the old age pensioners who ensured the no vote, proves that it was those vicious threats from the unionists that tipped the balance in their favour.

The pensioners voted no massively - the under 50 age group had actually voted yes, but for the pensioners, many of whom relied on the BBC for their news - the threat of losing their pension altogether was enough to scare them into voting no.

Support for Scottish independence was polling at just over 20% in the two years prior to the independence referendum, and ended up increasing to 51% according to polls on the day prior to the referendum, which prompted the British Government to offer further powers to the people of Scotland in order to prevent a yes vote.

Of course, 4 years later, the promises of federalism have been broken.

And of course, despite the people of Scotland overwhelmingly voting to remain in the EU in 2016 - the English leave vote has ensured that Scotland will be forced to leave the EU on the 29th of March 2019.

In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum, a few polls were released showing support for independence being as high as 59% for yes.

in the 2014 referendum, as many as 300,000 EU citizens may have voted against independence - because they were promised by the unionists that a no vote would protect Scotland's place in the EU and would therefore protect their rights as European citizens.

Of course - this time, the shoe is on the other foot - because the European citizens will now be forced to vote for independence in order to protect their EU rights. That's if they are allowed to vote at all, of course.

To put the size of that vote into perspective, if the first referendum was repeated with the EU citizens swinging to yes, it would have meant a 53% yes vote.

And of course, that doesn't take into account the feelings of everyone else.

Whether you voted remain or leave in the EU referendum, you would still be right to be angry that the voice of an entire country could be cast aside by the British Government, in their desire to fulfill the desires of the people of England - whilst completely ignoring that Scotland has it's own distinctive interests.

A 2nd independence referendum, will easily achieve a massive yes vote - the British Government know this and of course, Theresa May knows this - hence why she will try to prevent a 2nd referendum at all costs.

But whether or not the British Government chooses to allow a 2nd referendum is neither here nor there.

Independence can legally be achieved through a referendum, but can also legally be achieved in a General Election. If over 50% of voters were to vote for the SNP in a General Election - with the SNP asking for a mandate to make a Unilateral Declaration of Independence - then independence could legally be declared.

We will find out on the 11th December whether or not the UK Parliament votes to pass Theresa May's Brexit deal, or whether Britain faces crashing out of the EU without a deal.

Either way, the campaign for independence will begin at that stage.

But with or without Brexit chaos, and with or without the permission of Theresa May or the Tory party, Scotland WILL rise again and Scotland WILL be a nation once again.